A revolution in Kyrgyzstan, a poor ex-Soviet state in Central Asia, acted as
the spark for the Arab Spring of 2011, Roza Otunbayeva, a former Kyrgyz
president, has said.

In an interview with the Telegraph in London, Ms Otunbayeva also said that Kyrgyzstan was now a solitary beacon of democracy in Central Asia, a region closely associated with autocrats who have scant regard for Western democratic values.

Coverage of the overthrow of Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010 was broadcast around the world, the 61-year-old Ms Otunbayeva said, and showed that street politics could effectively deal with corrupt and unpopular leaders.

“Even (Russian President Vladimir) Putin said that the Arab spring started in Kyrgyzstan first,” she said.

“Al Jazeera was active in Kyrgyzstan showing everything that was going on and showing it in the Arab world.”

At least 87 people died during the revolution that forced Bakiyev and his family to flee Kyrgyzstan and propelled Ms Otunbayeva into the presidency.

The Kyrgyz protesters’ grievances, mainly frustration at a lack of opportunities and corruption by the elite, were similar to those held by people in the Middle East who, within eight months, were also protesting through the streets of their major cities.

In Tunisia, Egypt and Libya these protests lead to uprisings of different intensities that ultimately forced unpopular leaders out of power. Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian leader, fled to Saudi Arabia, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, resigned, and Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, was killed.

The two week-long revolution in Krygyzstan, Ms Otunbayeva insisted, inspired these revolutions.

Ms Otunbayeva had been a career diplomat, including Kyrgyz ambassador to Britain between 1997 and 2002, before returning to Bishkek to enter Kyrgyz politics.

At the time of the overthrow of Bakyiev, who had come to power after a previous revolution in 2005, she was considered one of the few people who could unite a country divided between the more prosperous north, centred around Bishkek, and the nationalistic southern regions focused on the ancient trading town of Osh.

She remained in power until December last year when she stood down after her political ally Almazbek Atambayev won a presidential election in Central Asia’s first peaceful transition of power.

“I promised that I would leave and I did this,” Ms Otunbayeva said during the 45-minute interview last month. “I was told, by the way, to keep going, that everything would be fine. I think this (standing down) was important for democracy.”

During her presidency, Kyrgyzstan also held a referendum that changed the constitution by shifting some power from the president to parliament. The transfer of power led some Western commentators to dub the country Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy.

Kyrgyzstan may be relatively poor with few natural resources but its democratic credentials are a source of strength, Ms Otunbayeva said.

“We feel very proud about this. We can talk to you, we can understand what Westminster is doing,” she said. “It’s not like other countries in the region which have no clue, no idea how Western democracy works.”

Neighbouring Kazakhstan, ruled by Nursultan Nazarbayev since independence in 1991, has never held an election considered free or fair, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are among the most repressive countries in the world and Tajik leader Emomali Rakhmon recently furnished his autocratic qualities by refusing to allow a satirical film about a dictator to be screened in cinemas.

But, although clearly an optimist, Ms Otunbayeva also said there are obvious weaknesses that could undermine Kyrgyzstan’s future.

The most serious are the north-south political and economic divide and the still simmering ethnic tensions around Osh that last erupted in June 2010 when clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks killed at least 400 people and forced thousands more to flee.

“There is a problem, I don’t deny this,” she said. “We have to work very, very hard as the Uzbek communities have become very introvert since the clashes.”